Setting records has become a daily event in the Gulf states. The worldâs tallest building is under construction in Dubai, which also boasts the largest collection of man-made islands and, soon, the worldâs biggest airport.

Saudi Arabia has built the biggest water project. Not wishing to be left out, Kuwait has the biggest kite (42m x 25m) and Bahrain lays claim to having the largest flag (169.5m x 97.1m)

This month saw the biggest potential bid from a Middle East investor for a foreign company with Qatar’s proposed £10.6bn ($22bn) offer for Sainsbury’s. Long cash rich, the Gulf Arabs are fast becoming among the world’s most sophisticated investors.

As these funds grew to hundreds of billions of dollars, they found that even when oil slumped to $25 a barrel, an increasingly smaller portion of their assets were necessary to ensure economic stability.

So, led by Abu Dhabi, these funds plowed surplus cash into higher risk investment strategies designed to achieve superior returns.

Several of the multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf are understood to be modelling their portfolios on the investments of successful US university endowment funds, such as Harvard and Yale, which have a large part of their assets in private equity, real estate and hedge funds.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the largest fund in the region with an estimated $600bn, although several people believe that to be conservative.

The fund is run by Frenchman Jean-Paul Villain, who previously worked in BNP Paribas’ asset management division. Sources close to Adia said it has been hiring aggressively and resembles a world-class manager.

“When we visit Adia it feels like a big investment house. A lot of the people they’ve hired have strong backgrounds in proprietary trading and fund management. They’ve got a full range of alternatives and asset classes,” said one source.

Several of the funds are pushing into new investments in real estate, infrastructure projects, private equity and hedge funds. Istithmar, the Dubai investment fund, bought a 3% stake in London-hedge fund GLG Partners in June.

These diversification programs are typically funded by reducing their exposure to traditional fixed income and bank deposits, the majority of which are in US dollars.

Some in the region caution this could lead to further downward pressure on the dollar.

He said: “I don’t see the Gulf deserting the US dollar, although there are concerns at the moment. However, investors in the region are playing a long-term game. When you have funds this large to invest there is only a limited number of places which can absorb that liquidity.”

As their assets grow they are likely to invest more of the new flows outside the US.

Kuwait’s removal of its peg to the US dollar in May also suggests a declining importance of the dollar in the region.

Others argue that the funds have long pursued diversification away from the dollar with an emphasis on global bond investments, which are unhedged.

Finding out exact numbers for many of the funds can be difficult, as most do not disclose their value.

Sitting on nearly 10% of the world’s oil reserves, Abu Dhabi is regarded by its peers as the godfather of investment funds and eclipses the other Gulf states to top the list to be the biggest investor in the region. The funds involved are so large that the emirate has formed two state investment bodies to manage its wealth and diversify its oil revenues internationally into other sectors.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the older of the two bodies, founded in 1976. Adia’s size, of about $600bn, has been achieved thanks to a trebling of oil prices since 2003, as well as other investment returns.

Adia’s portfolio has returned 10% per year on average, according to trade paper Euromoney. Last year its asset allocation was split roughly 50% to 60% in equities, 20% to 25% in fixed income, 5% to 8% in real estate, 5% to 10% in private equity, an area it has been investing in since 1992, and 5% to 10% in alternatives, according to Euromoney.

One way it is expanding is through backing ambitious and diversified financial services businesses, taking minority positions. In May, Adia took an 8% stake in Egypt-based EFG-Hermes, which covers the Gulf region. Adia is also preparing to invest an estimated $800m in buying less than 10% of Leon Black’s alternative investment firm Apollo after acquiring a 15% to 20% holding in debt manager Ares for less than $400m.

Adia also invested about $600m in Apollo’s Euronext-listed fund last year, which was less than a third of the total raised.

Adia’s investment is seen by rivals as a stamp of approval for these businesses and it is viewed, even by its rivals, as one of the most sophisticated investors in the region. As Hassan Heikal, co-chairman and chief executive of EFG-Hermes, said: “Adia is a leading force and authority across the region. Their investment highlights the confidence the market has in

EFG-Hermes and is invaluable to our plans to innovate and evolve.”

Adia’s international focus and size mean it is more prominent than the second body, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, which was set up more recently to make investments inside the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council also took over ownership of local banks previously held by Adia and is expected to set up global private equity programmes.

Details about the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency are hard to come by but investors and analysts believe its wealth is such that it comes in as the second largest fund in the Middle East. Sama, which was established in 1952, is responsible for the management of the country’s foreign exchange reserves and also acts as a banker to the Government, supervises commercial banks and is in charge of monetary policy to promote price and exchange rate stability.

Although being ranked second in terms of pools of assets in the Gulf region, it is not regarded in the same way as other sovereign wealth funds. The fund manages some of its assets internally, mainly in fixed income, but outsources its equity portfolios to third-party managers. Sources said it is in a similar position to the Kuwait Investment Authority in terms of its diversification plans.

The Kuwait fund has two parts; the General Reserve Fund, which is the main treasurer for the government that receives all revenues, and the Future Generations Fund, which was set up in 1976 by transferring half of the reserve fund’s wealth at the time.

The future fund was set up to provide support to Kuwaitis when oil reserves start to decline. Each year, 10% of state revenues are transferred to the fund. Assets cannot be withdrawn from the fund, unless sanctioned by law.

The future fund is the larger of the two and is understood to have grown by about 30% last year, including the 10% annual cash injection. The general fund is understood to be more conservatively invested as its goal is to preserve capital, rather than grow it.

The future fund allocates assets for investment in countries in proportion to their gross domestic product, although in some situations the weighting is skewed, thanks to a 1.7% stake in UK oil group BP and 6.9% of German carmaker DaimlerChrysler.

Management of the future fund is outsourced to third-party managers. The fund, which by itself would be the third largest sovereign wealth fund in the region, has been pursuing new investment strategies, which will bring it more in line with the level of sophistication of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Since 2005 when it approved a new asset allocation, the future fund has been reducing its exposure to bonds and equities in favour of private equity, real estate and funds of hedge funds. The new asset allocation will enable it to double its assets in the next decade.

The KIA has also expressed interest in taking stakes in Asian companies. It took a HK$5.6bn (€524m) stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China when it floated last September and is interested in state-owned companies in Vietnam that are likely to soon be privatised.

Officially set up in 2005, the QIA has focused on making direct private equity investments. It is far smaller than its neighbour Abu Dhabi, but the fund grows by about $1bn a week, thanks to revenues from its natural gas reserves, which are the third largest in the world. Flows into the fund are not regulated as they are in Kuwait, so it varies month by month. The flow of capital into the fund could double by 2010.

The fund is understood to target a return of about 15% a year, Sheikh Hamad told Dow Jones Newswires this month: “If we invest in treasuries and get 4% or 5%, inflation will eat it. We need high returns. We need to find a way to break through the cycle of the dollar and interest rates. We are taking the lead in investing in new instruments.”

This month the QIA launched the largest bid from the Middle East for a foreign company when it made a potential £10.6bn (€15.7bn) offer to take over UK retailer, J Sainsbury. The bid would be through Delta Two, an investment vehicle based in London that is run by Paul Taylor, a former NatWest banker. He was most recently chief executive of Rotch Property Group, which is headed by Robert Tchenguiz.

It was not the authority’s first attempt to venture in to the UK market. Last year QIA launched a bid for Thames Water but lost to Australia’s Macquarie Bank. Last year it paid £1.4bn to acquire Four Seasons Healthcare in the UK and in June it set its sights eastwards, acquiring a stake in Raffles Medical Group in Singapore, alongside Temasek.

In the Middle East, QIA’s assets include a majority stake in Beirut’s BLC Bank, which it bought from the Lebanese Government at the end of 2005 for about $235m. In June it announced its intention to sell the holding.

Other minority investments include a 8.7% stake in French media group, Lagardère.

With annual results due tomorrow, Investcorp is expected to deliver another bumper set of figures. Given that it had net income of $130m and returned a record $1.4bn to investors in the 12 months to June 30 last year, the London and Bahrain-listed company is looking for similar success.

Founded in 1982, Investcorp has arranged investments with a combined value of $32bn in its four business lines: private equity in North America and western Europe, global hedge fund offerings, real estate investment in the US and technology investment in North America and western Europe.

Last month Investcorp agreed to buy a roofing material maker for €850m ($1.1bn), its fourth private equity acquisition this year. Investcorp said it invested $537m of equity while selling four companies, including bedmaker Hilding Anders, to return $1.1bn at its interim results to December 31.

As with Arcapita, Investcorp has funded its deals from the balance sheet and syndicated the equity to more than 1,100 investors.

However, the group is creating closed-ended buyout funds to sit alongside its two venture capital vehicles to provide more regular asset management fees.

Last month it made a first close of its Investcorp Private Equity 2007 fund targeted at institutional investors outside the Gulf region with committed capital of $620m, including $270m from Investcorp and its affiliates.

Within hedge funds, Investcorp signed an alliance in January with WMG Advisors, which will manage a long-short equity fund, and the New York-based real estate team has acquired 200 properties, totalling $6bn, and has $3bn of property under management.

The smallest of the sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf, the State General Reserve Fund became a well known name to bankers in the region this year when it was rumoured to have been interested in backing a management buyout of Dow Chemicals.

Oman’s smaller oil reserves and value of funds are likely to have led it to adopt a more conservative investment approach for its traditional investments. The fund manages fixed income internally but is understood to outsource most of its equity assets to third-party managers.

It has also participated in several real estate developments in the region, including the Wave Seafront Resort in Oman, which cost more than $800m. It is also involved in Heron Tower, the soon to be built 46-storey office tower on London’s Bishopsgate, according to Estates Gazette.

Dubai-based Istithmar lives up to its Arabic meaning – investment – by spending an estimated $4bn in four years from its foundation and is reportedly on course to buy an additional $3bn of assets this year.

Although Istithmar concentrates on the consumer, financial, real estate and industrial sectors, its funding and backing from the Dubai rulers means it is global in approach and wide-ranging in its investments.

From spending $1.2bn on a 2.7% stake in emerging markets bank Standard Chartered to snapping up cruise liner QE2, from investing $1.2bn in buying 280 Park Avenue, New York, to UK industrials company Inchcape Shipping Service, the group is ambitious and wants to open offices in New York and China.

It has recently acquired a stake in hedge funds manager GLG to sit alongside its holding in advisory boutique Perella Weinberg.

Istithmar sits within holding company Dubai World, which was founded by the country’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, last year. Dubai World owns half of Istithmar with the remainder held by the Corporate Office of Dubai.

Shortly after, David Jackson was promoted from chief investment officer to chief executive to replace Muneer Tarmoom. John Amato and Felix Herlihy were brought in as joint chief investment officers from FIL USA, an investment vehicle of the Agnelli family.

Dubai International Capital, the private equity investment firm backed by the emirate’s ruling sheikh, is looking to quadruple its $6bn under management within two years. As arguably the most prominent of all the Gulf funds, the firm is well known to investors in the west.

For an organisation created three years before, this speed of development sums up the strong support given by the state through its Dubai Holdings vehicle from which it manages the cashflow partly generated by its parent’s real estate operations. To prepare for this expansion, DIC has reorganised into four divisions. Instead of its focus on private equity, it has added a public equities division for its minority stakes in listed companies, such as banks ICICI and HSBC, carmaker DaimlerChrysler and defence company EADS; an asset management arm; and emerging markets to cover the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, eastern Europe and Latin America.

Sameer Al Ansari, chairman and chief executive of DIC, said the private equity division managed $4.5bn to $5bn, excluding a remaining 20% stake in leisure group operator Tussauds Group, and this was expected to reach $10bn in two years.

The global, public equities division would be managing $10bn within two years while emerging markets would invest another $5bn in order for the group to hit its target $25bn under management.

In private equity, the firm has primarily invested in secondary buyouts, including the £800m purchase of Tussauds; the £700m deal for aircraft engines maker Doncasters and $492m to bolt on FastenTech; its purchase of budget hotel chain Travelodge for £675m; and Mauser, a German packaging group it bought in April for €850m.

DIC wants to break into other geographical markets from its London and Dubai bases. Al Ansari also flagged North America and Asia, where it expects to open offices and work with partners, such as ICICI, which also has a private equity division. Al Ansari said: “It is an understood objective for DIC to be an ambassador for Dubai in the way we operate.”

But being an ambassador does not mean paying over the odds for businesses. Despite being a keen fan of Liverpool Football Club, Al Ansari backed away from a deal after the price was raised and the team was sold to US sports investors George Gillett and Tom Hicks, co-founder of buyout group Hicks Muse Tate & Furst.

The team conducted the first leveraged buyout in the region in 1999 of Inchcape Middle East in a transaction worth $100m.

Its gross capital gain on the investment was 16.3 times equity on exited investments over a three year period. It also bought and sold Aramex International, a freight and express-delivery company, and was involved in the privatisation of Jordan Aircraft Maintenance Company.

It also owns a large stake in Spinneys, which is one of the largest supermarket chains in the Middle East.

Abraaj also has a controlling stake in internet portal, Maktoob.com. It employs 110 specialists.

Widely regarded as the young upstart to local rival Investcorp from which it sprung, Arcapita has proved its banking model of buying assets using its balance sheet then syndicating the equity on to its 1,000 or so clients in the Gulf region.

Arcapita made a record annualised net income of $190.5m for the year to June 30 2006, up 83% from the 12 months of 2005.

Based in Bahrain, with offices in Atlanta, London and Singapore, Arcapita has $3.8bn on its balance sheet and paid-in capital of $225m, of which 81% is held by more than 233 individuals and institutions. The remainder is held by Arcapita’s management.

Arcapita has completed deals of nearly $19bn in its four business lines – corporate investment, real estate investment, asset-based investment and venture capital. Its three largest purchases and 80% of its total have taken place in the past 18 months, including the $4.2bn acquisition of Viridian Group, the Northern Ireland electricity utility, completed last year.

Atif Abdulmalik, chief executive of Arcapita, said: “Each of our four business lines has made significant contributions to the results for fiscal 2007, highlighting the strength of Arcapita’s diversified business model, and we completed five exits, returning over half a billion dollars to investors.”

The announced sales include Roxar, Arcapita’s first deal in the Nordic region, which CorrOcean agreed to buy for $370m in June.

Others argue that the funds have long pursued diversification away from the dollar with an emphasis on global bond investments, which are unhedged.

Finding out exact numbers for many of the funds can be difficult, as most do not disclose their value.